Life and violent death in Chinatown: Hong Kong-born mob boss Tony Young’s story
The gang leader turned pillar of the community was playing mahjong when he was stabbed to death in Los Angeles in January
Tony Young stepped out of the noodle shop and lit a cigarette.
As he did on many afternoons, he was heading to play mahjong at Hop Sing Tong, a 141-year-old social club in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. But he had a gambler’s intuition that the tiles would not fall his way.
“Help me play a few hands. Lately, my luck has not been good,” the Hong Kong-born Young said to his lunch companion. The friend declined, and Young headed west on the 10 Freeway from Alhambra to downtown LA on his own.
He had barely settled in at a table when a man barged in with a knife, slashing one of the mahjong players across the neck, then turned on Young, stabbing him seven times.
The January 26 slayings shattered the quiet of Chinatown, where Young, 64, had been a fixture for decades, adapting to the changes around him with canny self-assurance.
Recently, he had been sworn in as president of Hop Sing Tong, a red rose pinned to his lapel as journalists from local Chinese newspapers documented the ceremony. At banquets, he cut a distinctive figure with his shaved head, winsome grin and well-cut suits. When foreign dignitaries visited Chinatown, he was in the receiving line.